Can I use any 2.5” SATA HD to replace the internal HDD in my Mac Mini?

[subjonas]

[First, I know many will suggest to replace the HDD with an SSD instead, but this Mac is only used as a media and file server, so I care next to nothing about performance. I only want to increase the storage capacity from 1TB to 4TB or more, and HDDs are much cheaper. I’m even fine with 5400rpm.
The next thing I know they will say is to just use an external drive, but I have a few reasons for wanting internal if at all possible, and I understand the extra work necessary.]

With the above hopefully out of the way, I just want to make sure that there isn’t a specific type of 2.5” SATA HDD that I need to get for my 2014 Mac Mini. I’d hate to invest the money and time only to find there was some crucial spec I overlooked!
Thanks!

FYI these are the two potential drives I found on Amazon:

Seagate 4TB Laptop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive (ST4000LM016)

The new Seagate Laptop HDD means big storage in a small package. The Laptop HDD is the highest-capacity mobile hard drive for DIY external box setup for upgraders. Each drive can store more than 1 million songs or 480 hours of HD video. This drive also consumes less power than Seagate and competi...

www.amazon.com

Seagate BarraCuda 5TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 2.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 5400 RPM 128MB Cache for Computer Desktop PC (ST5000LM000)

Store more, compute faster, and do it confidently with the proven reliability of BarraCuda internal hard drives. Perfect for designers, musicians, photographers, and video editors using multiple applications at once, these solutions offer uninterrupted performance, optimized read/write caching te...

www.amazon.com

Looks like pickings are slim for high capacity 2.5” HDDs as these are the only options I found on Amazon. Both have a lot of great reviews in total, but for both most of the top rated reviews are really awful. Not sure what to make of that.

 

[getrealbro]

If I was upgrading the HDD in my 2014 Mini I would ALSO add a 256-500GB NVMe Blade SSD while I had it open.

Late 2014 Mac mini is slow

I installed the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD (and the other parts in the previous post) in my 2014 Mini this AM. The Black Magic speed test was as expected — roughly 750 MB/sec. And since it's internal, macOS supports TRIM :) This was “out patient” level brain surgery. It only took 2 hours to be...

forums.macrumors.com

This gives you both speed (macOS and apps, etc) of the SSD and capacity of the larger HDD for the data.

GetRealBro

 

[Kaida]

[First, I know many will suggest to replace the HDD with an SSD instead, but this Mac is only used as a media and file server, so I care next to nothing about performance. I only want to increase the storage capacity from 1TB to 4TB or more, and HDDs are much cheaper. I’m even fine with 5400rpm.
The next thing I know they will say is to just use an external drive, but I have a few reasons for wanting internal if at all possible, and I understand the extra work necessary.]

With the above hopefully out of the way, I just want to make sure that there isn’t a specific type of 2.5” SATA HDD that I need to get for my 2014 Mac Mini. I’d hate to invest the money and time only to find there was some crucial spec I overlooked!
Thanks!

FYI these are the two potential drives I found on Amazon:

Seagate 4TB Laptop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive (ST4000LM016)

The new Seagate Laptop HDD means big storage in a small package. The Laptop HDD is the highest-capacity mobile hard drive for DIY external box setup for upgraders. Each drive can store more than 1 million songs or 480 hours of HD video. This drive also consumes less power than Seagate and competi...

www.amazon.com

Seagate BarraCuda 5TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 2.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 5400 RPM 128MB Cache for Computer Desktop PC (ST5000LM000)

Store more, compute faster, and do it confidently with the proven reliability of BarraCuda internal hard drives. Perfect for designers, musicians, photographers, and video editors using multiple applications at once, these solutions offer uninterrupted performance, optimized read/write caching te...

www.amazon.com

Looks like pickings are slim for high capacity 2.5” HDDs as these are the only options I found on Amazon. Both have a lot of great reviews in total, but for both most of the top rated reviews are really awful. Not sure what to make of that.

Both are the 15mm variants of the 2.5" HDD. You should be looking for the 7mm or 9.5mm one which is up to 2tb max. 2014 Mac mini has a closed tray that can only use 7mm or 9.5mm HDD.

Unless you have a 2012 mac mini hdd open tray then you can try to squeeze in a 15mm HDD.

Mac mini 2011/2012 5TB storage + SSD idea

1. Seagate recently released a 5TB Barracuda 2.5" at 15mm. 2. A typical SSD is 7mm. 3.The Mac mini is designed for 2 x 9.5mm hdd with approximately 1mm of space left in between them. So a total of 20mm. So the idea is to ditch the casing for the SSD and have it in the upper slot insulating...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[subjonas]

If I was upgrading the HDD in my 2014 Mini I would ALSO add a 256-500GB NVMe Blade SSD while I had it open.

Late 2014 Mac mini is slow

I installed the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD (and the other parts in the previous post) in my 2014 Mini this AM. The Black Magic speed test was as expected — roughly 750 MB/sec. And since it's internal, macOS supports TRIM :) This was “out patient” level brain surgery. It only took 2 hours to be...

forums.macrumors.com

This gives you both speed (macOS and apps, etc) of the SSD and capacity of the larger HDD for the data.

GetRealBro

Thanks, but just on quick glance it seems like more tinkering than I’m willing to do, and extra money though not much, for something that just isn’t my goal. I only ever interface with my mini for maybe an hour per year total. It’s really only a background device.

Both are the 15mm variants of the 2.5" HDD. You should be looking for the 7mm or 9.5mm one which is up to 2tb max. 2014 Mac mini has a closed tray that can only use 7mm or 9.5mm HDD.

Unless you have a 2012 mac mini hdd open tray then you can try to squeeze in a 15mm HDD.

Mac mini 2011/2012 5TB storage + SSD idea

1. Seagate recently released a 5TB Barracuda 2.5" at 15mm. 2. A typical SSD is 7mm. 3.The Mac mini is designed for 2 x 9.5mm hdd with approximately 1mm of space left in between them. So a total of 20mm. So the idea is to ditch the casing for the SSD and have it in the upper slot insulating...

forums.macrumors.com

Ah that’s what I need to know, thanks. It is a 2014 Mini so it’s disappointing to hear 2TB is the max for compatible HDDs, though. I guess I’ll have to go with an external as much as I’d rather not. I did happen to see on Amazon there are 4TB 2.5” 7mm SATA SSDs. They’re way more expensive so I don’t think I’ll go that route, but just out of curiosity, would an SSD like this work?

SanDisk Ultra 3D NAND 4TB Internal SSD - SATA III 6 GB/S, 2.5"/7mm, Up to 560 MB/S - SDSSDH3-4T00-G25, Solid State Hard Drive

Get accelerated performance for better gaming and pro-level multitasking with graphics-intensive apps. Powered by 3D NAND technology, the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD delivers enhanced endurance and reliability, blazing sequential read speeds of up to 560MB/s [550MB/s: 250GB only] and sequential write sp...

www.amazon.com

And would I need to worry about enabling TRIM? I’m running Mojave.

 

[Kaida]

yes SSD works but overkill if you are not interfacing with it much. TRIM is a thing of the past, modern SSD and OS would have got that covered.

 

[subjonas]

yes SSD works but overkill if you are not interfacing with it much. TRIM are a thing of the past, so it modern SSD and OS would have got that covered.

I agree, it’s way overkill.

 

[steve217]

[The next thing I know they will say is to just use an external drive, but I have a few reasons for wanting internal if at all possible, and I understand the extra work necessary.]

If you don’t mind my asking, what are your reasons for doing this exclusively internal?

I was going to suggest getting a $100 external 4TB and just fuse it with your boot drive so you have a single volume for your server implementation.

 

[Kaida]

internal sata is faster the usb 3.0

 

[Boyd01]

Would that even matter with a hard disk (not a SSD)? I just can't see any benefit to opening up the Mini and risking damage for a hard drive. On my 2014 Mini media server, I have gone through two 4tb external media disks. They each lasted about three years (running 24/7 without spinning down). It would be a huge pain to swap out internal disks.

After the last failure, I went with a 4tb USB 3 external SSD. That has been great and more than twice as fast as the hard drive with virtually no latency.

 

[subjonas]

If you don’t mind my asking, what are your reasons for doing this exclusively internal?

I was going to suggest getting a $100 external 4TB and just fuse it with your boot drive so you have a single volume for your server implementation.

It’s a combination of several reasons. To save desk space, avoid clutter/wires, not take up another USB port on the mini (I have a usb hub, but certain things need to be plugged into the Mac directly), not take up another power outlet for the external HDD, having to move media libraries (iTunes, Photos, etc.) to another drive, and I’ve had issues with external drives unmounting randomly, or the Mac automatically restarting and the external drive failing to mount automatically. The mounting failures haven’t happened for awhile, but just want to avoid all of that.

What is this fusing you mention? I don’t think I’m familiar with that.

I actually already have a spare 4TB external HDD (wd my book). I’ve been wondering if I should just clone the Mac to the external and make that the system boot disk and not even use the internal 1TB. This would just keep everything on one drive and save from having to move libraries. But I’m not sure if there are downsides to that, like maybe the usb3 connection will slow things down too much (compared to sata), or not sure what will happen if I do get another random unmount again.

 

[getrealbro]

I suspect the USB drive would be roughly half as fast as a 2014 Mini's internal 5400rpm HDD.

These are Black Magic Disk Speed tests on my 2014 Mini's 2400rpm spinner

and a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus bus powered USB drive.

Of course, YMMV

GetRealBro

 

[steve217]

What is this fusing you mention? I don’t think I’m familiar with that.

I meant Fusion Drive. It would have the advantage of presenting all your physical drives as a single volume.

 

[Boyd01]

Wow, my mileage varies a lot! That must be a USB 2.0 disk. Here is one of my 5TB Seagate external USB 3.0 disks. I also have some 2TB USB disks that clock around 170MB/sec.

This is the internal 1TB drive on my 2014 2.8ghz Mini, quite a difference there too. This is about the same speed as the 500gb internal disk on my 2014 1.4ghz Mini. The difference might be that your disk is fragmented, while I don't really use my internals for anything.

Just a couple others, for comparison. This is the original Apple 128gb internal SSD on my 2014 2.8ghz Mini (split from the Fusion Drive)

And this is my Oyen Digital 4TB external USB SSD that I use as a media drive

 

[subjonas]

I suspect the USB drive would be roughly half as fast as a 2014 Mini's internal 5400rpm HDD.

These are Black Magic Disk Speed tests on my 2014 Mini's 2400rpm spinner
View attachment 961158
and a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus bus powered USB drive.
View attachment 961159
Of course, YMMV

GetRealBro

Wow, my mileage varies a lot! That must be a USB 2.0 disk. Here is one of my 5TB Seagate external USB 3.0 disks. I also have some 2TB USB disks that clock around 170MB/sec.

View attachment 961176


The and internal 1TB drive on my 2014 2.8ghz Mini, quite a difference there too. This is about the same speed as the 500gb internal disk on my 2014 1.4ghz Mini. The difference might be that your disk is fragmented, while I don't really use my internals for anything.


View attachment 961177


Just a couple others, for comparison. This is the original Apple 128gb internal SSD on my 2014 2.8ghz Mini (split from the Fusion Drive)

View attachment 961179


And this is my Oyen Digital 4TB external USB SSD that I use as a media drive

View attachment 961180

Interesting.

Yes, getrealbro, was your drive usb2 or 3? Also was it 5400 rpm?

Boyd01, if your 5tb usb3 seagate tested faster than your internal, then I assume the external was a 7200 rpm? Was it bus powered?

If I do go the external boot disk route, I wonder if it would be worth it for me to get a 7200rpm hdd then to compensate for the performance loss of the usb3 connection. Pretty sure my WD Mybook is 5400rpm. I don’t need my mini faster than it is now, but I also don’t really want it too much slower.

I meant Fusion Drive. It would have the advantage of presenting all your physical drives as a single volume.

Ah fusion. I don’t know how to create a fusion drive, but anyway I’m not sure if that’s better in my case than just using the external drive as the boot drive since it will have all the capacity I’ll need. Also not sure I like the idea of the computer deciding how to split up my files. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Boyd01]

The 5TB external hard disks are 7200 RPM and have their own power bricks. They are nothing special, just whatever Best Buy had on the shelf about 4 years ago.

I don't see how a USB 3.0 hard disk could be that slow unless it's connected to a USB 2.0 port or hub. I have a couple of the litte WD MyPassport bus-powered USB 3.0 disks. They clock at about 100MB/sec. But I also have a variety of old USB 2.0 disks and they top out around 35MB/sec, like the results that @getrealbro posted.

 

[getrealbro]

Wow, my mileage varies a lot! That must be a USB 2.0 disk. Here is one of my 5TB Seagate external USB 3.0 disks. I also have some 2TB USB disks that clock around 170MB/sec.

View attachment 961176


This is the internal 1TB drive on my 2014 2.8ghz Mini, quite a difference there too. This is about the same speed as the 500gb internal disk on my 2014 1.4ghz Mini. The difference might be that your disk is fragmented, while I don't really use my internals for anything.


View attachment 961177
...

Good catch — again.

I’ve been using the 2014 Mini’s internal HDD as a scratch drive for real time streaming videos lately. So it may be badly fragmented. And I’m not sure whether the Seagate 4TB bus powered USB drive is USB 2 or USB3. But I’ve had it long enough that it may very well be USB2.

Here is a previous speed test on the 2014 Mini’s internal drive

and a current speed test on one of 4 Seagate 8TB USB3 drives attached to my 2014 Mini.

GetRealBro

 

[getrealbro]

...Yes, getrealbro, was your drive usb2 or 3? Also was it 5400 rpm?...

In retrospect, I'm not sure whether the old 4TB bus powered USB drive I tested is USB2 or 3. But I guess it is only USB2 given the results of the speed test. I'm pretty sure that Apple was installing 5400rpm HDDs in the 2014 Minis.

BTW BlackMagic Speed Test is available for free on the macOS app store. So you could check your existing drives.

GetRealBro

 

[subjonas]

I did the blackmagic speed test on my internal drive and got similar slow speeds to Getrealbro’s at about 60 MB/s read/write...

The data on the internal has been very static so I don’t know that fragmentation is the problem for me. Also it has performed about this poorly ever since I got it new. I didn’t know it was that bad.

I couldn’t do the speed test on my WD My Book yet because I was using it as a Time Machine backup drive and apparently it won’t allow the test to write on it until I wipe the drive. But I want to copy one of the TM backups off the drive first, so I’ll do that soon.

Out of curiosity, I did do a speed test for another portable USB3 Seagate 1TB 7200rpm HDD I have. It fared a bit better than the internal HDD, with read/write at about 75-80 MB/s. I’m thinking I’ll go with a new 7200rpm instead of the 5400rpm My Book at this point.

I’ll probably still do the speed test on the WD My Book just in case before I go out and buy anything.

Assuming whatever drive I go with will have speeds as good or better than the internal, anyone have thoughts on other drawbacks/risks to using an external as my boot/startup drive?

Installing OS X on an external drive: What to expect

One of the advantages OS X has over Windows is the easy ability to install OS X on practically any supported local volume, meaning that regardless of the hardware, if the volume can be mounted locally (as opposed to a network share) you should be able to install a copy of OS X to that volume and...

www.cnet.com

I was reading in that article that a possible drawback is that if the drive is externally powered, a power interruption will cause the computer to crash. But a power interruption would make my Mac Mini shut off anyway, so I don’t know how much of a drawback that is. But I’m wondering if I should get a BUS powered portable HDD anyway. It would also cut down on space/plugs. But are there any disadvantages to using a portable as a permanent startup drive versus an externally powered drive?
Maybe I should make a new thread for these questions...

 

[getrealbro]

...Assuming whatever drive I go with will have speeds as good or better than the internal, anyone have thoughts on other drawbacks/risks to using an external as my boot/startup drive?
...

The main issues with booting and running pre-T2 Minis from an external drive are physical. For example, non-bus powered externals require a separate power cord/brick. Even bus powered drives can be disconnected while running, which can damage the directory structure. So the physical location of the Mini and external drive needs to be fairly secure from accidental interference. And I'd use a UPS to minimize the risk of directory damage due to power failures even with an internal drive.

FWIW we’ve been booting and running my wife’s 2013 iMac from a bus powered 1TB Samsung T5 SSD for months since it’s HDD died. This very small SSD sits comfortably on a Kleenex box which doubles as a prob to keep the screen vertical, since the adjustment spring broke. We haven’t “fixed” these issues because we plan to buy her a 2020 iMac later this year.

GetRealBro

 

[Tesla1856]

You install a SSD Internally. NVMe-M.2 if you have it, SATA-3/600 if not.
Load macOS and your programs on it. It will boot and load programs crazy-fast compared to a HDD.